


happy birthday, Akihiko~!

by penthepoet



Series: birthday fics at the end of the world/p3p akihamshin au [1]
Category: Persona 3
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Birthday Party, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, ends at kissing, happy birthday Akihiko Sanada
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26600002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penthepoet/pseuds/penthepoet
Summary: Minako Yuki's prepared a surprise party for Akihiko's birthday, with Shinjiro's help. (or, Minako and Shinjiro are there for their lover no matter what.)
Relationships: Aragaki Shinjiro/Arisato Minako/Sanada Akihiko, Arisato Minako/Sanada Akihiko
Series: birthday fics at the end of the world/p3p akihamshin au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935037
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	happy birthday, Akihiko~!

Minako's staring at the banner for a long while, squinting so hard that Shinjiro's certain she might go blind. 

"Hey, dumbass. Ease up a bit, it looks fine," he sighs, nudging her shoulder. 

She continues to stare stubbornly. "I think we got the H bigger than we should have," she huffs. Shinjiro pauses before he starts laughing, ruffling her hair softly. "It looks fine, Minako. I don't know what you're talking about. C'mon, why don't you go check the presents over? I'll handle the banner."

She scrambles over to the presents and Shinjiro sighs, staring at the banner himself. She's right. They did get the H bigger than the other letters. It's a bit lopsided, in kind of an endearing way. He snickers, a small smile spreading on his face. It probably wouldn't matter too much to Akihiko either way, but Minako's a perfectionist when it comes to the people she loves, and she already had to be dragged away from the banner after making seventeen versions of the same banner for Akihiko's birthday. 

He looks over at her. She's inspecting the small pile of presents, adjusting ribbons and putting her arms at her sides like she's doing the most important present-inspecting of her life. She's always like this - it's part of what he and Aki love about her. After a bit of fiddling with a particularly big ribbon on a box, she confidently strides over to Shinjiro. "All set!"

"You sure?"   
"Dead certain." She nods.

"Then I'll give word to Mitsuru to send him in. Already got the cake and food sent out - bribed Koromaru so he doesn't try and snatch a bit of cake for himself, too. We just need the birthday man himself standing here..."

* * *

Minako's hiding, clad in her party clothes and celebratory party hat. Hilariously, Shinjiro has placed his party hat over his beanie instead of wearing the party hat fully on his head like a normal person. She's got a hand over her mouth, trying to restrain a giggle or two. She's hiding under the cake table with Shinjiro and some of the other party guests. Koromaru lets out a small, curious "arf?" Shinjiro chuckles, petting the dog's head. "Yeah, Koromaru. He'll be here any minute now." 

Minako peeks out from under the table cloth slightly just to see the man of the hour wandering in, eyes covered by Mitsuru before she uncovers them. "Come on, Mitsuru. What is th-" Akihiko's midway through speaking before the party guests all jump out from under the table in a sudden display. Aigis, in her role as the "confetti dispenser," has already shot a forceful blast of confetti that flutters through the air down onto the assorted guests. Mitsuru has put the party hat on Akihiko's head.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AKIHIKO-SAN!" 

He looks shocked. His hands are flapping somewhat at his sides, his eyes wide. "You... you all... you did this for me?" 

Minako runs up and hugs him. "Yeah, sillyhead! This is all for you, you know. Shinji and I have been planning it for weeks now!" 

Shinjiro gives a thumbs up and a content, small grin from the corner. Minako takes Akihiko's hand and leads him over to the presents. 

"The blue one is from Shinjiro, the big one with the fancy ribbon is from me, the small packet is from Mitsuru..." She's naming out who all the presents are from.

Finally, as they're cutting out pieces of the cake, he takes the first one - the blue one. He opens it up, and a note slides into his hands.

_Hey, Aki. It's been a bit since you and I and Minako have gotten together, but... I figured you might like this. I was digging through my stuff, and found this old - series of drawings that I apparently did of us back in the old days. They're not the best, but there's some writing on them from Miki I think you might like. I found - she gave me this letter, too. That she wanted me to give to whoever you were going to marry. I thought... I thought that might be something we'd want to open up and read together, you know?_

_Have fun. Smile as much as you can, you dumbass. For yourself, not just for me and Minako._

_\- Shinjiro_

Akihiko pulls out... a huge pile of Shinjiro's drawings. They're more detailed than you would expect from somebody his age at the time. Miki's handwriting is unmistakable, all gentle and light lines like she's uncertain of every word. She appears to have titled each and every drawing, calling Shinjiro "Jiji" just like she used to. Akihiko... he puts the pile down gently, and he sees the stained letter at the very bottom of the box. It's folded with utmost care, sealed with wax from a stray candle she must have foundat the orphanage. 

Akihiko's throat goes tight. He puts a hand to his mouth, taking deep breaths. A real man lets himself feel, he tells himself mentally, because he can feel the tears he's trying to blink back and it's overwhelming him. "Shinji..."

"Yeah?"

Akihiko moves over to the older boy. He leans up on the balls of his feet. First, a kiss to Shinjiro's forehead - then, a hug so tight and sudden that Shinjiro grunts. He hugs back, though, kissing Akihiko on the lips briefly before coming back up to breathe. "Glad you like it, Aki..."

"Shinji, it's... it's perfect," he says softly.

Shinjiro's smile says all it needs to say in the moment, so brilliant and full of love that Akihiko's hands start flapping with joy all over again.

Next, he moves over to Minako's present. It seems to be pretty big, judging from the fanciful red ribbon. Minako's lurking near when he pulls the ribbon off, pulls the box open.

Boxing gloves. Not just any kind - the stitching is unmistakably neat and patterned, Minako's name stitched into the very edges of one of the gloves, and suddenly Akihiko's throat is going tight all over again. Minako holds one of his hands. "It was kind of hard to get the sewing right. I stole one of your fancy broken gloves and tried to mimic its style." 

Akihiko hugs Minako close, kissing her head the same way he did with Shinjiro's. "You really did this for me..."

Minako nods, showing him her hands. There's lots of bandaids over her fingers. "It took a lot of work, and I threw out all kinds of gloves, but yeah. This is for you."

He gathers her hands into his, kissing them gently. "Even if we might be apart, I will always fight with these gloves and have you with me."

She's looking up at him with the most hope he's seen in a long while. Those looks at him from those he cares about are better than any other present he gets that day.

* * *

They read the letter from Miki together, later on when it's just the three. 

Akihiko... cries. Predictably, he cries a lot, and Shinjiro and Minako are there to comfort him.

"Hey, hey. It's alright, Aki," Shinji hums, rubbing Akihiko's back. Minako's holding the tissue box, offering a tissue to him as he's sniffling. 

Akihiko takes the tissue, blowing hard and throwing it aside before he hugs them both. "I'm so fucking glad you both are in my life."

Minako and Shinjiro pause, sharing glances between each other before they look back at Akihiko.

Their lips are on his before he can even say another sentence.


End file.
